Another perennial debate is whether Star Wars should be classed as science fiction or fantasy. Typically sci-fi fans argue it is fantasy while everyone else argue it is science fiction. This is because people who don't like sci-fi tend to think about it only in terms of the stuff which exists in the fictional world: sci-fi has spaceship, laser weapons, aliens, multiple planets, robots,and other kind of futuristic technology. Thus since the Star Wars universe contains those things it is automatically sci-fi. However there are is a fundamental issue with this because most of the post-apocalyptic literature from the Cold War is classed as sci-fi even though it rarely contains advanced technology (eg. the Chrysalids).
Science fiction is a very diverse genre including stories which happen in alternative histories, other dimensions, in the near future, in the far future, and mostly in the past through the use of time-travel. In addition there is a huge variety of story lines, plots, themes, and character composition. In contrast, fantasy is much more well defined as a genre. Fantasy books, films, and video games follow all follow the same pattern: an unlikely hero learns that they are special, gets mentored by an older or more experience character, uses their special-ness to acquire a group of followers who then go to defeat the great-evil facing the world. Special-ness usually takes the form of magical/mystical powers or by being the subject of a prophecy and often a great journey is involved. Because of the formulaic story the main interest for the audience is
typically in the personalities, growth and emotions of the characters
in the story.
This pattern is played out in all the major fantasy stories:
The Hobbit: the small shy hobbit Bilbo is told he is special and convinced to join the Dwarves, the finds The Ring which gives him the magical power to become invisible, he is mentored by Gandalf and along with the Dwarves and the people of Lake-town who believe they are there to fulfill a prophecy defeat the evil dragon Smaug.
Harry Potter: the orphan Harry is told he is a wizard and convinced to go to Hogwarts, he is mentored by Dumbledore, together with Ron and Hermione (and the rest of Hogwarts) fulfill a prophecy by defeating the evil Voldemort.
Narnia: Four kids hiding from the Blitz discover they can enter Narnia, are told of a prophecy that they will defeat the evil White Queen, are mentored by Aslan and together with the Narnians attack and defeat the White Queeen.
Eragon: farmboy Eragon becomes linked to a dragon Saphira after finind her egg is mentored by Brom to become a Dragon Rider and has joined the resistence against the evil King Galbatorix (series incomplete).
Similar storylines can be found in the Wheel of Time, Percy Jackson, His Dark Materials, the Elder Scrolls etc...
Whereas science-fiction does not conform to that pattern. Instead, science-fiction is primarily about philosophy, and morality in particular. Some common dilemma's include when is a non-human entity considered sentient and entitled to rights, ethics of governments keeping secrets, eugenics, the right to privacy vs the need for security, the responsibility to protect, what constitutes slavery, when is it justifiable to interfere with another culture. By setting these problems far in the future and/or between different planets and cultures, science fiction examines these issues outside of historical or cultural context which might prejudice their audience. Another common strand of science fiction is the dystopian future which typically extrapolates current policies or technological trends to the extreme to warn of potential dangers eg. 1984, post-nuclear war stories, post-climate change disaster stories. The diversity of story and the ethical dilemma's means frequently the interest of the audience is on the abstract ideas presented rather than on the development of the characters (leading to the accusation that many works of science-fiction have thin cardboard characters).
Now coming back to Star Wars, the original trilogy obviously fits the fantasy model to a T: the orphaned poor farmer Luke learns he can control the mystical Force, is mentored by Obi-Wan and Yoda, joins up with Han Solo, Chewbacca, Leia and the Rebels to take on and defeat the evil Darth Vader and evil Emperor. The conflict is a simple good vs evil of fantasy not the ethical grey area of science-fiction. Similarly the audience is primarily engaged by the personalities and relationships of the characters in the story and their emotional responses rather than the abstract ideas, philosophical stances, and moral positions taken by the characters.
Part of the reason the prequels failed so miserably is that they tried to be more like science-fiction. The three prequels sort of tried to examine how democracy can be undermined and the ethics of disposable soldiers (robots or clones) but failed utterly because the stories focused on young Obi-Wan and Anakin who were in the wrong position to know anything about it. Plus the black and white nature of the Jedi(good)-Sith(evil) dynamic undermines the whole ethical dilemma which is what makes sci-fi interesting. At the same time the prequels also tried to follow the fantasy route with the whole Anakin-prophecy stuff but completely failed at that because the characters were cartoony cardboard cut-outs so there was no interest for the audience in the fantasy story. Finally the mystical nature of the Force was changed in favour of the technological light-sabres which diminished interest from the fantasy side without adding anything on the sci-fi side because there were no ethical or moral repercussions to the use of light-sabres.
Thus Star Wars should be classed as fantasy not as science-fiction.
